scholarly journals A Real-Time Monitoring Platform for Distributed Energy Resources in a Microgrid—Pilot Study in Oman

Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (15) ◽  
pp. 1803
Author(s):  
Nasser Hosseinzadeh ◽  
Ahmed Al Maashri ◽  
Naser Tarhuni ◽  
Abdelsalam Elhaffar ◽  
Amer Al-Hinai
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Communication Channel ◽  
Energy Resources ◽  
Distributed Energy Resources ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Area Network ◽  
Distributed Energy ◽  
Real Time Monitoring ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Monitoring Platform

This article presents the development of a platform for real-time monitoring of multi-microgrids. A small-scale platform has been developed and implemented as a prototype, which takes data from various types of devices located at a distance from each other. The monitoring platform is interoperable, as it allows several protocols to coexist. While the developed prototype is tested on small-scale distributed energy resources (DERs), it is done in a way to extend the concept for monitoring several microgrids in real scales. Monitoring strategies were developed for DERs by making a customized two-way communication channel between the microgrids and the monitoring center using a long-range bridged wireless local area network (WLAN). In addition, an informative and easy-to-use software dashboard was developed. The dashboard shows real-time information and measurements from the DERs—providing the user with a holistic view of the status of the DERs. The proposed system is scalable, modular, facilitates the interoperability of various types of inverters, and communicates data over a secure communication channel. All these features along with its relatively low cost make the developed real-time monitoring platform very useful for online monitoring of smart microgrids.

scholarly journals Solar+ Optimizer: A Model Predictive Control Optimization Platform for Grid Responsive Building Microgrids

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 3093 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anand Krishnan Prakash ◽  
Kun Zhang ◽  
Pranav Gupta ◽  
David Blum ◽  
Marc Marshall ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Model Predictive Control ◽  
Predictive Control ◽  
Energy Resources ◽  
Distributed Energy Resources ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Area Network ◽  
Wide Area Network ◽  
Battery Storage ◽  
Distributed Energy ◽  
Building Loads

With the falling costs of solar arrays and battery storage and reduced reliability of the grid due to natural disasters, small-scale local generation and storage resources are beginning to proliferate. However, very few software options exist for integrated control of building loads, batteries and other distributed energy resources. The available software solutions on the market can force customers to adopt one particular ecosystem of products, thus limiting consumer choice, and are often incapable of operating independently of the grid during blackouts. In this paper, we present the “Solar+ Optimizer” (SPO), a control platform that provides demand flexibility, resiliency and reduced utility bills, built using open-source software. SPO employs Model Predictive Control (MPC) to produce real time optimal control strategies for the building loads and the distributed energy resources on site. SPO is designed to be vendor-agnostic, protocol-independent and resilient to loss of wide-area network connectivity. The software was evaluated in a real convenience store in northern California with on-site solar generation, battery storage and control of HVAC and commercial refrigeration loads. Preliminary tests showed price responsiveness of the building and cost savings of more than 10% in energy costs alone.

scholarly journals Validating the Real-Time Performance of Distributed Energy Resources Participating on Primary Frequency Reserves

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (21) ◽  
pp. 6914
Author(s):  
Niko Karhula ◽  
Seppo Sierla ◽  
Valeriy Vyatkin
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Light Emitting Diode ◽  
Dynamic Performance ◽  
Energy Resources ◽  
Distributed Energy Resources ◽  
Distributed Energy ◽  
Time Performance ◽  
System Operator ◽  
Technical Specifications ◽  
Primary Frequency

A significant body of research has emerged for adapting diverse intelligent distributed energy resources to provide primary frequency reserves (PFR). However, such works are usually vague about the technical specifications for PFR. Industrial practitioners designing systems for PFR markets must pre-qualify their PFR resources against the specifications of the market operator, which is usually a transmission system operator (TSO) or independent system operator (ISO). TSO and ISO requirements for PFR have been underspecified with respect to real-time performance, but as fossil-fuel based PFR is being replaced by various distributed energy resources, these requirements are being tightened. The TSOs of Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden have recently released a joint pilot phase specification with novel requirements on the dynamic performance of PFR resources. This paper presents an automated procedure for performing the pre-qualification procedure against this specification. The procedure is generic and has been demonstrated with a testbed of light emitting diode (LED) lights. The implications of low bandwidth Internet of Things communications, as well as the need to avoid abrupt control actions that irritate human users, have been investigated in the automated procedure.

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